The case for fraud. Exit polls and e-voting.

[bling bling]

The following articles interested me because they both reference the fact that the only safeguard we have against possible paperless e-voting fraud is exit polls:

"Exit polls are not usually such an enormous deal, but this year, there are two huge concerns. One, electronic voting machines with no paper trail can be checked only by exit polls with some degree of accuracy. Two, regardless of what happens, the legitimacy of the winner will be challenged by the opposite party, and exit polls are critical to the establishment of momentum going into the legal proceedings."

http://www.mydd.com/story/2004/10/25/204626/04


next:
Posted 10/13/2004 12:37 PM Updated 10/13/2004 12:48 PM

Networks to test new exit polling system
NEW YORK (AP) — "Determined to avoid a repeat of high-profile failures in 2000 and 2002, television networks will rely on new systems on Nov. 2 to help project election winners and analyze why voters made their choices.

The six news organizations that have formed the National Election Pool — ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and the AP — say they're confident things will go better this time, based on test runs and the experience of people involved.

The networks blamed Voter News Service, the company they had formed to count votes and conduct exit polls, for faulty data that led to the wrong calls in 2000. VNS tried to rebuild its system, but it broke down on election night 2002 and failed to provide usable exit polling information. VNS was then disbanded.

This time, the news organizations contracted with two veteran polling companies — Mitofsky International and Edison Media Research — to conduct exit polls. They agreed that the AP — which has been tallying votes in elections since 1848 — would be their sole source for vote counts, and the news cooperative has significantly beefed up its system in response.

One flaw exposed in 2000 — the failure of VNS to account for the increased use of absentee ballots — has been corrected, said Linda Mason of CBS News, an NEP spokeswoman. Telephone surveys of people voting by absentee ballots will be conducted in 13 states this year, instead of just three.

Mason said two other technical adjustments were made to increase reliability: NEP will conduct exit polling in more voter precincts and have access to a greater number of past vote counts to use on a comparison basis.

"The things that clearly went wrong four years ago, it's hard to imagine them going wrong again with what they've done with this system," said David Bohrman, CNN's Washington bureau chief.

Both the exit polls and vote counts worked with no serious problems during the 2004 primaries and in stress tests, network officials said. Full dress rehearsals will be conducted on Oct. 23 and 30.

Several networks promised to do a better job explaining to viewers how they make projections and even to assign correspondents to their decision desks. ABC has increased training given to its election night team, and CNN is hiring its own statistical analysts to pore over data.

"Every election is different," said Bill Wheatley, NBC News vice president. "In this one, we're cognizant of the fact that additional absentee ballots are being cast, registration levels are up and there may be additional disputes over the reliability of voting machines. We'll factor all of these into our deliberations."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/2004-10-13-election-network_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA

[Rhiannon12866]

1. This is important

And very depressing.:-(

[Dancing_Dave]

2. Yeah, this was the biggest election scam in U.S. History

Now all that matters is how many of us are willing to fight Fascist take-over to last drop of blood.

Otherwise there won't be another election without even the slightest claim to accuracy or legitamacy....until America loooks AT LEAST as bad as Germany in 1945.

Of course, with all the nuclear weapons in the hands of our Fascists and their adversaries around the planet, it is probably self-delusion for me to even think we might get off as easy as Germans who couldn't face the terrible truth about what the Nazi's did with their small 9/11 preview Reichstag Fire.

This is our last chance to have any future, folks. Our future only exists to the extent that we are willing to fight for it to the very end over the next days, weeks and months.

If you are not willing to give your life in this fight now, you will live a hell in the future which will only make you wish unto God that you had died sooner.

[kokomo]

3. Yale University published a study last spring on how to corrupt e-voting

To read the 8 page pdf report:

ftp://ftp.cs.yale.edu/pub/TR/tr1285.pdf

[bling bling]

4. There you have it. "We conclude that changing only a single vote

per electronic voting machine can change the outcome of the election."